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The Final Offer
(Back to Rogue Trader) Description: full text description of the ship goes here History The Final Offer ''is a Havoc-class Raider with a proud history of service to the Imperium. Constructed by the Rogue Trader Cornelius Quinn to be his personal flagship and christened 'The Outstretched Hand', the ship was outfitted with the pinnacle of technology - a Modified Jovian Drive to outrun what it couldn't outfight, strong Sunsear Laser Batteries and a Starbreaker Lance to outfight what it couldn't outrun, a Warpsbane Hull to keep it safe in transit, deep Supply Vaults to go far into the void, and a Librarium and Observation Dome to catalog the stars and their treasures. It was also cursed. In his arrogance, Quinn fitted the ship with an Abominable Intelligence, protected by its own back-up Gellar field, presumably in the hope that the ship would care for its crew. The experimental contraption required vast blocks of the ship to be reworked into nearly impassable Tenebro Maze in order to accommodate the connections for it to reach throughout the ship, such that an experienced Havoc Tech-Priest would become lost in seconds in its spiralling wings. Quinn captained the vessel through some of the wildest corners of known and unknown space, making a name for himself through a combination of exploration, privateering, dealing in dubious xeno technology, and more than a few heroic space actions in defence of Imperial space. Quinn's career as a Rogue Trader came to an end when a nosy tech-priest found the forbidden Abominable Intelligence during a routine dry dock maintenance cycle,. He fled the system before the authorities could arrest him, and enjoyed a second career as an outlaw and pirate, for the most part raiding rebel and xeno systems. Successfully eluding naval vessels for a number of years, he was eventually tracked down by an Inquisitor while aboard an independent station above a distant frontier world. Unable to simply arrest Quinn, the Inquisitor used the Trader's infamous pride against him, and challenged him to a duel. Quinn won, but was gravely wounded. He fled to his vessel, and succumbed to his wounds some days later. Bereft of its captain, the Hand was eventually captured in a boarding action by the Imperial Navy, who executed its crew to the last man, and commandeered the vessel for use against a particularly ferocious greenskin Waargh. Given the urgency of the situation, the admiral in charge decided there wasn't time to dry dock the ship and strip out its AI, which was interwoven in the very structure of the ship; instead, he had the Mechanicus shut it down and place a great seal over the room containing it, pending a more permanent solution at a later date. Many centuries and many wars later, the matter has been largely forgotten. The relevant files do still exist somewhere in the maze of Imperial bureaucracy, and the Abominable Intelligence is noted in the ship's registry; but it has been safely shut down for hundreds and hundreds of years without incident, and no one is likely to bother with it now so long as the seal remains intact. The Hand served the Imperial Navy with distinction, acting as a colonization escort, a noble galleon to escort brave colonists to new worlds and open horizons. It scouted new lands, charted new stars and helped bring the prophecies of the Emperor to new light. Its record was impeccable - until it was ubruptly put up for sale at a price considerably lower than it should have been worth. Even more mysteriously, no one was interested in buying it. Renamed Lot #1332476-B and towed to the edge of space, the ship was finally auctioned for scrap. And even then the interest was non-existent. The ship sat in the scrapyard awaiting a buyer to assume the salvage fees and scrap the vessel for decades. Soon the name of The Outstretched Hand fell to legend, and was forgotten altogether. Finally, a small group of newly elevated Rogue Traders were commissioned to establish colonies on the far side of The Maw. In urgent need of a ship, one of these made an offer of "the outstanding plus one Throne". Ezekiel Marcone was delighted that the ship was his for its "first and final offer". Thus the ship was named The Final Offer, and instead of scrap, the Mechanicus descended upon the ship, puzzling over the strange layout and sealed areas, but getting the old ship up to fighting form. For over two centuries The Final Offer has served the Marcone family in many roles - escort, transport, gunboat and scout. Now the ship is needed again, this time to jump beyond the stars and bring fortune to the colonies again. Noteworthy Shipboard Locations ''(as orientation in space is difficult, the north or top of the ship is the dorsal superstructure, the opposing side is south or bottom, the engine exhaust exits at the aft, rear, or back of the ship, with the opposite end being the bow, the lighter bays are on the port side, which, when facing towards the bow with one's head north and feet south, would be left, while the observation dome on the starboard side would be to one's right, from the same orientation) '' The well-equipped Command Bridge is in secure location in the centre on the underside of the main hull, alluding to some of the internal complexity as it is not where it would be expected in the dorsal tower. It functions as the main control centre for navigation, fire control, communications, and security, controlled centrally by the command monitors made available to the Lord-Captain and helmsman. Logistics and Management are controlled in the deck above the Command Bridge. Here a small brigade of supply officers looks after the day to day ship requirements from food and sanitation to crew management. The pressures are often high, especially when The Final Offer's very deep supply vaults are low, and the deck works more like an accounting and human resources office than a military post. Still, some officers thrive in the crucible of bureaucracy and reach high posts across the ship. The deck is ruled by the ship's Seneschal, Mendoza Hill, and her baleful gaze or cough of displeasure have ended more promising young careers than all the boarding actions combined. Although a job at an accounting firm run by a Chaos Lord himself would be more pleasurable, there is no shortage of applicants, as working in LnM means you get paid first, fed first, and have first choice of berth, which are huge perks when living of a flying city in the stars. Secondary Command Deck is in the central bow of the ship is the backup command deck for when the main command deck has been damaged, and has glassed-in blast doors which can be opened to provide a dramatic view from the ship's most forward internal point. Although intended only to be used if the ship's sensors are disabled, it provides a humbling backdrop for the room's primary function - acting as the ship's court of law. It is a smaller version of the main command deck and has the same access restrictions, with the added benefit of being located adjacent to the Arch-Militant's quarters, Security Office, and Brig. While the Command Bridge is functional-yet-comfortable, Secondary Command is a very martial place, traditionally only visited by the Lord-Captain when he alone must preside over justice, as most on-board offenses are overseen by the defendants commanding officer or the Arch-Militant if the security forces are involved. Observation Deck is a large shuttered dome structure at the starboard of the ship, and is treated with a certain reverence by the crew as whole. It functions as a town square, and sits at the heart of off-duty life. When not in battle-stations or in the warp, the shutters are retracted - often with a ceremony - and hemisphere of the sky is allowed to shine in on the crew. Even with the shutters closed, the dome is home to a large walking garden fed by solar lamps, and for the voidborn, may be the closest they have ever been to a living plant and soil. A small cafe sits at the centre of the garden for the enjoyment of the ship's officers. The Dome's Edge is ringed with the ship's commerce - voidsmen can spend their stipends and scrip at the ship's ample tavern bar and lounge, enjoy a theatrical play or film at the small theatre, or shop at the tuck shop for any available luxuries the ship has collected on its travels. It is one of the few informal places in the ship where military customs are left at the door. At opposite ends of the Dome are the entrances to the large Librarium - holding ancient lore and the findings of the ship on its travels - and the Chapel, where the Ecclesiarchy holds its services for worship, funerals, and marriage. Engineering is the single largest department of the ship in terms of the number of voidsmen reporting to them. With an ancient and unorthodox ship, almost every voidsman not required for another role spends at least part of their time undertaking tasks for Engineering. Engineering compartments are thus scattered throughout the ship depending on their purpose, and each is run as a small fief by its local Enginseer. Engineering spaces are typically crowded, sweaty affairs, dedicated to keeping the local connections to various systems running. If Engineering boxes are outposts, then their castle is the massive Manufactorum at the aft of the ship, nestled neatly between the main engines and housing the main power distribution junction. The Tech-Priest and Explorator Mathias (known to the crew as 'Gears') rules this domain with an unofficial authority rivalling that of the Lord-Captain himself. Over the course of the centuries, when the ship was doing well, its Lord-Captain has generally left well enough alone, making sure what the ship's chief Tech-Priest wanted he damned well got. Flight Deck is on the Port side of the ship and links to the cargo bays. The landing strip is too short for quick entry, so pilots must come in perpendicular and slow or risk smashing into the end of the runway. The hangar is designed to be on either side of the runway so craft must go out in sequence and be parked as far back as they can go when they come in. Shuttles and Fighters can be moved around in the hangar but it is a difficult squeeze and time consuming. The Final Offer has never had a very active air wing - even under Sebastian Marcone only eight of the Sub-Sector Commander's oldest fighters were ever kept there, and those are long gone now. The current flight deck holds four lightly armed shuttles, a boarding transport - which serves as the command ship for the air group, two large cargo lighters, and a salvage/retrieval tug. Even with the limited supply of craft, the Flight Deck is a busy place. Engineering work to external systems keeps the shuttles in near constant use under normal conditions. If the ship is loaded or unloaded to a planet, or a sizable away team is deployed, or even if shore leave or furloughs are ordered, the flight deck becomes a busy spaceport. The few full time pilots, co-pilots, and cadets have some of the most envied jobs on the ship, just because they can leave it for a few hours. A large central block of The Final Offer - near the gravity wells - is sealed off. Dozens of decks high, surrounded by high-density ferro-plastic, with blast doors sealed with wax stamped by the Inquisition, it contains the remains of the Abominable Intelligence. Every power coupling, sensor feed, and communications line is severed, and even the life-support ducts are welded shut. No living soul aboard the ship has ever dared enter, as rumours of murder-servants and worse are whispered as guardians of the other side. Even the corridors approaching it are avoided and treated with suspicion - gravitic and electric fluctuations in the area are common, and they are the scenes of the grizzliest crimes in the ships history. The Warrens is the ship's slang name for the residential decks of the ship. These curving gothic corridors follow a geometry all their own, and often defy any attempt to map them in a sensible order. Only the experience of living on the ship for years will teach the rote routes to reach other places aboard. Newcomers are frequently lost in the corridors, and frequently "reintegrated" into the departments they end up in, rather than returned to their station. The Warrens have different "feels" about them. The residential areas near the bow - and Security Office - tend to be neat and upstanding, where the aft of the ship - near the Manufactorum - tends to be overcrowded, with a tenement feel to them, with many of their amenities "commandeered" "re-purposed" or "salvaged" by the Enginseers. These are just trends though. The Tenebro-Maze allows a certain amount of "liberty" to be taken with places on the ship. Sometimes, this is positive, as mess halls offer different flavours depending on the cook's forte, and at least one of the group heads has been repurposed as a spa and onsen, More often though, some enterprising yet criminal uses of space take place - some rooms are filled with stills, some dorms have become speakeasies, and a functioning black market in contraband and other amenities abounds, particularly near the Manufactorum. The Officers' Lounge is a well-appointed set of rooms set between the LnM decks and the Bowside Warrens. It features a Games Room, and a well stocked bar. The Warrens immediately adjacent are a dozen sets of larger suites, for housing any visitors to the ship, and as such are kept in pristine order. ''free to expand Ship Game Mechanics Summary of special rules for the ship: * +10 to any investigation or Lore check if you can consult the archives * +5 to fire ships weapon (only when bridge is undamaged included in the range modifiers of the weapons below) * +5 to command tests (only when bridge is undamaged) which becomes +15 if defending against a hit and run attack * +10 to Warp Navigation tests and re-roll warp encounters * If Bridge is damaged, it loses power on a 3+ roll * Double the ships endurance on long voyages * When suffering a critical hit, the pilot always choose which compartments are hit (not the attacker) * Gain an extra 50 Achievement points when working towards exploration objectives * Always repair 1 extra hull point when making an extended repair * Anybody performing a boarding action or a hit and run attack against the ship suffers -5 to all command tests Backgrounds: * Machine Spirit: A nose for Trouble (effects already included above) * Past Histories: Haunted (effects already included above) Weapon Rules summary: Macro Battery Weapons: Dorsal mounted Sunsear Laser Battery (Short Range: 5 (+15 to hit), Normal Range: 9 (+5 to hit), Extreme Range: 18 (-5 to hit)) 270 degree arc of fire * Basic Hit: 1 hit (each hit does 1D10 + 2 damage) * Roll 10 less than the target number: 2 hits (each doing 1D10 + 2 damage) * Roll 20 less than the target number: 3 hits (each doing 1D10 + 2 damage) * Roll 30 less than the target number: 4 hits (each doing 1D10 + 2 damage) * Roll 40 less than the target number: 4 hits (each doing 1D10 + 2 damage) and a critical (roll 1D10) Lance Weapons: Starbreaker Lance: (Short Range: 3 (+15 to hit), Normal Range: 5 (+5 to hit), Extreme Range: 10 (-5 to hit)) 90 degree forward arc of fire * Basic Hit: One hit, which does 1D10 + 2 damage ignore all armour, but do not ignore void shields * Roll 30 less than the target number: One hit, which does 1D10 + 2 damage ignore all armour, but do not ignore void shields and 1 critical